


godspeed (sweet dreams)

by knobblyfruit



Series: Clint Barton Bingo [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Clint Barton Gets a Hug, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Deaf Clint Barton, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kid Fic, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 05:17:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18218735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knobblyfruit/pseuds/knobblyfruit
Summary: Two-year-old Cooper Barton is on the mend after being sick, and Clint works through his feelings about his own crappy father.





	godspeed (sweet dreams)

**Author's Note:**

> When I got my Clint Barton bingo card, I thought, "Yay, I'm going to write so much Clint/Bucky!" So of course my first fic for it is Clint/Laura. I've actually had this idea in my head for ages, so I'm glad I finally had an excuse to make myself write it. The thought of Clint being a dad for the first time just gives me a lot of feelings.
> 
> Title from the song by The Dixie Chicks.
> 
> (for the "Clint/Laura" square)

Laura knew she was alone the second she woke up without her husband beside her. The warmth he always radiated was missing, not to mention the notable lack of his telltale snoring.

Not that Clinton Francis Barton ever snored, of course.

She noticed his hearing aids missing from the nightstand where they were put mere hours ago. It was still much too early for anyone to be awake, but she had a good feeling she knew where he was.

With a soft sigh, she pulled herself out of bed and grabbed one of Clint’s hoodies on her way out of the room. The autumn chill had permeated the drafty old farmhouse and while she’d fallen in love with the place the first moment she saw it, she did wish Clint would hurry with all those “improvements” he’d promised he was going to make to the place. 

She pulled the purple hoodie over her head as she headed down the hall, just two doors down, where she could see a dim light spilling out into the hallway. She stopped in the doorway and, sure enough, her husband was sitting in the rocking chair in the corner, holding their two-year-old son, who was sleeping soundly on his chest.

Cooper was on the road to recovery from a double ear infection. His fever had just broken earlier that afternoon, and this had been the first night in almost a week that he’d been sleeping well in his own bed. Laura had been worried, of course, but Clint had seemed particularly distressed over it. Laura suspected it was because it was a sickness of the ears, as if any child of Clint Barton was automatically predisposed to lose their hearing.

Right as Laura was considering slipping away back to bed, Clint’s eyes opened to look directly at her. She would have been unnerved if she wasn’t so used it by now. She smiled and gave him a little wave, not wanting to speak in case Cooper woke up.

He gave her a little smile in return, then glanced down at Cooper. The boy seemed to be sleeping soundly, content in what Laura knew to be the safest place he could possibly be: Daddy’s arms. 

Clint stood slowly, arms curled protectively around the toddler, careful not to wake him. Then he carefully brought Cooper to his bed and gently laid him down. He pulled the blanket covered in race cars over his little form and bent down to kiss his forehead. Cooper didn’t wake up at all, and Laura would always be envious of Clint’s ability to pull that off.

Clint met Laura in the doorway and she could see how tired he was. Probably just as tired as she was; a sick toddler did not allow parents to sleep much. She took Clint’s hand and led him back towards their bedroom. He went obligingly without a word.

“Did he wake you up?” she asked near the doorway, keeping her voice quiet.

Clint shook his head. “No, I just…” He paused, then shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep, so I went to check on him. I woke him up by accident.” He smiled ruefully. “He’s a light sleeper.”

Laura wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer. “Just like his daddy,” she said. He just nodded, hugging her in return. He nosed at her hair, breathing her in, and it was these little moments that were Laura’s absolute favorites.

But she knew her husband, so she knew there was something else bothering him. She pulled back to look at his face. “So why couldn’t you sleep? Just worried about Coop? He’s already doing so much better.” She was giving him an out, and she knew he would recognize it. He could agree that that was it and then they could go back to bed, or he could tell her what was really bothering him. Forcing Clint to talk about anything never ended well.

Clint sighed. “That was part of it, but…” He stopped, then shook his head. “I want cuddles if I’m gonna talk about this. But first I gotta take a piss.”

Laura pulled away with a soft laugh. “Stay classy, honey.” He grinned at her as he shut the bathroom door between their bedroom and Cooper’s.

She rolled her eyes and went back into their bedroom, tugging the hoodie off and tossing it on the floor before crawling gratefully back into bed. She’d nearly drifted off again when she felt the bed dip with Clint’s weight. “Lauraaaaa,” he whined softly.

“Ugh, the classiest,” she muttered, but she moved accordingly, allowing him to tuck himself close and use her chest as a pillow, arm thrown over her stomach while Laura held him. “Better?” she asked.

“The best,” he said contentedly, rubbing his face into her thin t-shirt. 

There was silence for a minute or two before Laura finally spoke. “Babe, if you’ve decided you don’t want to talk, that’s fine, but if you do want to, you’re gonna have to do it quick because I’m exhausted, and Cooper will probably be awake again in a few hours.”

Clint sighed heavily. “I know.” There was another pause while he gathered his thoughts. “I was thinking of my dad,” he finally said.

Laura frowned. It seemed like Clint’s father had been haunting him ever since he’d become a father himself. “How come?”

“I don’t remember being that little, or if I was ever really sick when I was that little, but I’ve been so damn worried about Cooper all week and I realized… I can’t imagine my dad ever having been that worried about me. I literally can’t imagine him giving two shits that his little boy was sick. Can’t imagine him ever being sober enough to have cared. And I never thought about that before, you know?”

Laura simply nodded, not wanting to derail his train of thought.

“All I see when I think of him is the sneer that was always on his face when he looked at me. And maybe it sounds stupid, but I never really hated my dad for everything he did. Maybe I should have, but I didn’t. He’s long dead, and I don’t gotta carry that with me. I thought I was being the bigger man.”

“Oh, honey,” Laura whispered, not knowing what else to say. She moved to run her fingers through his hair, knowing he’d find that comforting.

“Now after dealing with Cooper this past week and how just… fucking heartbreaking it was to see him be in so much pain… I hate him, Laura. I hate him, and I’m glad he’s dead. I don’t want his sneering face anywhere near my son. Fuck him. I deserved better and so did Barney. So did my mom.” Clint let out a shuddering breath and looked up at Laura like he was looking for absolution. “I hate him,” he whispered.

Laura leaned forward to press a kiss to his forehead. “So do I,” she said. “If I had a time machine, I’d use it to go back and punch him right in the face.”

He laughed like he couldn’t help it. “Yeah?” 

“Yeah. More than once, even,” she replied with a smile. It faded as she trailed her fingers down his face. “You have every right to feel that way, Clint. It’s okay that you do.”

He smiled weakly. “Yeah?” he asked again.

“Yes,” she said definitively, looking him right in the eye. “You are an amazing father. Cooper loves you so much. So do I. And your father was an asshole.”

He searched her face for a moment, as if there was any chance at all of her lying about this just to make him feel better. He must have found what he was looking for because he nodded and sat up, reaching for his hearing aids. “I love you, too,” he said before tugging them out of his ears and turning them off. He handed them to Laura, who set them on the nightstand. He pressed a kiss to her lips and then slid back under the covers. They curled around each other, and it didn’t take long for them to fall asleep.

Cooper woke them back up just two hours later, but he was happy and laughing, and Laura couldn’t have asked for anything more.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr [@bartonish](http://bartonish.tumblr.com)!


End file.
